death & transcendence

I started writing this piece as my father lay dying peacefully, in the dark, the Hour Of The Wolf approaching. September 3rd, 2011. He eventually passed at 10:41am, but his spirit was - I believe - already in transition, as brain cells faded. We spoke our last words some time around 0400h.

The music is an attempt to depict the Passing as described in the Tibetan Book Of The Dead. Its sounds & textures reflect my sense of the process, sitting beside the bed.

It begins with the bells of the Temple and melodic bells accompanying the Journey One Takes Alone. The passing may be peaceful, but the ensuing 49 days before physical rebirth are not.

The Dreamworld is a chaotic place, chaos being as we now know, highly organized and pregnant with purpose. The harder one clings to the Earthly life, the more difficult the passing.

If there be Rapture, it is because one has already let go.

The startling, sampled, other-worldy Whale-spouting introduces us to Dreamworld and reminds us Life is a flat plane, all Life sacred, all Life must pass this way.

Within the unusual sounds, I expect the pounding of the Push Towards Life, the Push Towards Something Rather Than Nothing, even as terrible dreams remind the Dead of their purpose.

This piece is about what I expect when I die.

And in the end, the Temple Bell will ring, and the melodic bells and Whale-song will call me to life anew, cleansed and ready for my next step up towards nothingness.